News / 09 Jan 2026
Fine Art graduate wins BAMS New Medallist for 2025-26
BA (Hons) Fine Art
Recent BA (Hons) Fine Art graduate, Lonny Chauhan, was selected as this year’s British Art Medal Society’s (BAMS) ‘New Medallist’ for 2025-26.
The New Medallist scheme is intended to provide a framework by which artists based in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and who are relatively new to medal-making, can develop their interest in the medal as a vehicle of artistic expression. Its aim is to deepen and broaden the selected artist’s knowledge of the medal and to expand their awareness of the medium’s possibilities. The scheme is administered by BAMS, funded by the Belvedere Trust, and supported by the British Museum, the V&A and the Royal Mint.
In being selected as this year’s New Medallist, which Lonny commenced on 1 Sep 2025, Lonny has been provided with many wonderful experiences and opportunities, such as getting to study the private medal collections at both the British Museum and V&A, and meet the curators there; studying abroad at the University of Pforzheim (Germany); received a grant of £3,500; mentoring sessions with an experienced medal-maker; a week’s work experience with a working mint; membership with BAMS and free attendance at a BAMS conference.
“Being the New Medallist has already meant that I have been able to be so much more immersed in the medal world, which only encourages me to further make more medals and continue to push my practice. I was first introduced to art medals through the BAMS student medal project when I was at uni. I fell in love with the whole process of making medals in first year, and continued to make a medal for each year of my studies, and then continued to design medal ideas since. It almost feels like a full circle moment to be the New Medallist now - it's a very lovely thing to be able to look back to when I was a first-year student, just getting introduced to this new thing that I'd never thought about before, and to see how it's brought me to where I am now.”
Lonny Chauhan, BA (Hons) Fine Art graduate
In addition to being a New Medallist, Lonny was also awarded the FIDEM bursary, which allowed him to attend the international medal congress in Munich.
“The FIDEM bursary has meant that I'm now familiar not just with the people involved in the British Art Medal scene, but the Medal scene worldwide. It goes without saying how valuable that has been.”
Lonny Chauhan, BA (Hons) Fine Art graduate